Rehab For O'hare's G Concourse

$80 Million Plan Is 1st Stage Of Terminal Renovation

American Airlines and the Chicago Aviation Department on Monday announced plans for an $80 million reconstruction of the G concourse at O'Hare International Airport.

The reconstruction, which will include ripping the roof off parts of the concourse and constructing arched openings with glass walls, is the first visible part of the city's $1 billion renovation of the airport terminal.

More than 80 percent of the reconstruction cost, $66 million, will be paid by the $3-a-ticket charge customers pay on all fares. Ft. Worth-based American and American Eagle, its commuter affiliate, will pay the rest.

American and the city said the concourse renovation will take 2 1/2 years to complete.

Announcement of the construction project came as American celebrated the anniversary of jet service in Chicago. Forty years ago, 104 passengers, including entertainer Eydie Gorme, and a crew of nine helped inaugurate the jet age by boarding Flight 49 for San Francisco, a four-engine Boeing 707.

Jetways connecting terminals to airplanes hadn't yet been developed, and the 4-year-old terminal was a one-story affair.

"The flight took 4 hours and 9 minutes compared to the then-fastest time of 5 hours and 31 minutes," said Joe Lenahan, American's managing director of ramp services.

Rhona DiCamillo, deputy commissioner of the aviation department, said the city's $1 billion upgrade of O'Hare is no different from the decision made more than 40 years ago by then-Mayor Richard J. Daley to provide the best facilities for passengers expected to pass through O'Hare.

"Passengers make connections here to destinations all across the globe and we want to make sure we have world-class facilities to serve them," said DiCamillo.

The G Concourse is among the smallest of O'Hare's concourses, with only 14 gates. It's also the narrowest, with only a 20-foot center aisle.

But Nick Georgiou, vice president of Chicago architects Teng and Associates Inc., said once the rehab is done, passengers should feel they are in a more spacious terminal.

Among other amenities, Georgiou said, retail stores will line a widened link between the concourse and the rotunda, which is now under construction.

And American said its Admirals Club members no longer will have to traipse from Terminal 3 to catch planes departing from the G concourse.

American is constructing a 4,000-square-foot club in the concourse to serve those passengers.